


Fireworks

by caityjay



Series: Sunday Snuggles [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-09
Updated: 2011-01-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 16:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2277606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caityjay/pseuds/caityjay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Explosion:  A rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and occasionally a happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fireworks

Tori was angry. She had passed the point of vague tingling sensations, of blushing, of outright flirting and had continued to move through mild envy to frustration and exasperation, but had ultimately settled on just plain pissed off. Ian was apparently more of an idiot than she'd always thought.

"Ian," she shouted over the blasting music, slapping her best friend on the back of his head, "you are an idiot."

"I know," he whined, not even taking his eyes from their target for a moment to acknowledge her. "I was just really hoping for someone to kiss at midnight this year."

 _And you want that bimbo?_ Tori thought vehemently, following Ian's gaze to the admittedly pretty drunken blonde tittering at an equally pretty young man across the room. Liz Ellsworth was currently brushing a hand not-too-subtly over the front of random-pretty-boy's shirt. "You're better off without, if you ask me."

Ian pouted—actually _pouted_ —at Tori, but at least he turned to her to do it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tori hesitated. She'd known Ian since they were kids and she'd never approved of his choice of girlfriends. He was always hooking up with the girls who cared more about makeup and shoes than what Tori at least considered to be actually important things, like getting good grades, paying attention to the news, thinking about real life. But she'd never really expressed her disapproval outright.

"Well," she began cautiously, "Liz isn't exactly Ivy League material, if you catch my meaning."

Ian rolled his eyes. " _I'm_ not Ivy League material, Tor. I don't think that would be an issue."

That was another problem. Through their past two years in college, Ian had begun to have trouble finding girls interested in him. Tori had begun to observe that the most likely reason for that was because none of the dumb girls wanted to bother with a guy who actually had a functioning brain and a promising future. He wasn't a nerd or anything—he was more popular than Tori, certainly—but he was smart enough to scare away the girls who were only looking for arm candy and a fuck buddy.

Ian didn't believe that, though.

"Of course you are."

"What?"

Tori realized she'd spoken her last sentence at a reasonable volume, which obviously made it impossible to hear over the other shouted conversations and booming speakers.

"Do you want to go outside?" she tried again, relinquishing her corner of couch for the promise of relatively fresh air and relative quiet.

"Sure." Tori was surprisingly relieved when he followed her out of the house onto the wrap-around porch.

It was freezing; there were at least three inches of snow on the ground, which was somewhat surprising but increasingly common due to the effects of global climate change. She and Ian had had long discussions on that subject in the past. There was a cluster of smokers off to one side, but other than that Tori found it much easier to breathe outside.

But it _was_ freezing. Literally.

"Shit, it's cold."

"Another astute observation, thank you Miss Jones," Ian stripped off his coat and moved to drape it over her shoulders. "Here."

"What? No, dude, keep it. I'll just go get mine. It's in there somewhere...."

But Ian's hand on her arm stopped her before she could reach the door. "Victoria. Put the goddamn coat on."

She frowned at him, puzzled, but took the coat. "Oookay."

It was warm. Really warm. And it smelled like Ian's deodorant, the same kind he'd used since he first hit puberty. Speaking of puberty, Tori felt tears springing to her eyes at the scent, the sensation of Ian surrounding her, knowing he was standing right beside her and always would be but never in the way she _wanted_ him to be with her. Stupid hormones. 

She took a deep breath and the tears backed off easily. She really needed to get back on birth control; this was getting out of hand.

"Why do you not want me to be with Liz?"

The softly spoken question startled her and she spun around to face Ian, who was standing calmly with his hands in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, nose already pinkening with cold.

Tori was suddenly bashful. She shrugged, not able to meet his bright blue eyes. "I just think that maybe you should look for a girl you can actually carry on a conversation with for longer than five minutes, that's all."

"That's all."

The flat tone prompted her to look up at him after all.

"Um. Yeah."

Ian nodded, looking away. Tori cursed herself silently for not being able to voice her emotions with more clarity. A thousand different things she could be saying right now flew through her mind, yet not a single one could be forced to her tongue.

The silence was just beginning to get uncomfortable when Ian drew his cell phone out of his pocket. "One minute. We're probably missing the countdown."

"Does this lot even bother with a countdown?"

Ian grinned. "There's always a countdown." He shuffled across the weathered porch to peer into the living room window. "There. Perfect view."

Tori stepped up behind him. Sure enough, the television was displayed perfectly in the window, tuned to the coverage of the festivities at Seattle Center. "Are they at ten, yet?"

"Almost. ...23...22...."

She smacked him on the shoulder. "You don't count til ten, dork."

"So now I'm a dork, huh?" He rolled his eyes. "Nineteen..."

Tori sighed. "Seventeen... sixteen...."

When they reached six, Ian slipped an arm around her waist beneath his coat, startling her briefly off her count. But when she felt how cold his hands were, she just pulled him in closer.

"Three... two... one."

The fireworks on the Space Needle were spectacular, even through the double-paned glass, haze of people and plasma television screen. But not as spectacular as the unexpected press of lips on hers.

As Tori blinked dumbly at her best friend, Ian grinned. "Happy New Year."

"Yeah. Definitely."


End file.
